Living on the edge in the North Pacific....with two kids, two dogs, a manic husband and a wife who tries to keep up with the pack.

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Thursday, October 10, 2013

Survey Scenics

Paramanof Bay with Ban Island in the distance

During our archaeological survey Mike and I got to check out some beautiful places on Afognak Island. We did most of our traveling by inflatable kayak (Innova Helios II) and they worked great. We used doubles so that we could dump our gear in the forward 'hatch'. Because we were on survey we also had to get in and out of the kayaks a lot to check out possible site localities on shore. The kayaks also gave me an appreciation for the importance of beaches with good places to land. I noticed that localities with multiple beach aspects where kayaks could land in a calm lee in a variety of wind directions tended to have sites. I think such beaches were a more important consideration than fresh water streams or many of the other resources we tend to think prehistoric peoples 'just had to have nearby' their villages. Patrick

Paramanof Bay and Ban Island with the Alaska Peninsula in the background

North Shore of Izhut Bay

The beach where we camped at Izhut Bay

Izhut Bay arch

Dead pink salmon litter the bottom of a lagoon that we surveyed

Pauls Lake reflections

Stormy weather at Perenosa Bay (we did not kayak in this type of weather)